Only you can answer the 'VFM' question, but I think of it this way - I wouldnt be looking at top drawer DACs until everything else in my rig was at that level. There is no shortage of recommendations in the high-end forum, and I guess it just comes down to how deep your pockets are. As someone who is financially constrained to mid-fi, I have to rely on my trips to a dedicated Hi-Fi shop for exposure to that end of the cosmos. Personally, I would find it very hard to justify the price tags on many of the CDP/amp/speaker combinations I have heard at the shop, but its your wallet. In high-end terms, a thousand dollars is entry level (or below) for a DAC, so I guess its all relative. dCS make some seriously expensive gear if you want to upgrade :)

Because some of them sound better. Some of them dont. I havent found one that matches my skylla yet. cheap or expensive

Try to go to a local headfi meet first and try out some more expensive dacs so you will know if a more expensive one would be worth it too you. No 2 people hear the same. Some will say a specific dac makes a huge difference and the next person will say it doesnt sound any different than there computer soundcard. Untill you hear it, you wont know.

Could anybody explain what kind of difference I might hear between a small portable DAC (such as an Ibasso) compared to something in the $1000-2000 range? Or whatever differences that they heard? I feel that my W11R headphone has very high detail retrieval and more so than any closed headphones that I heard before. I also think my amp is up to the task to show me some more detail.

With acoustic music, the differences between DACs are readily apparent. The soundstage is wider, with instruments having more space around them and sound more like separate instruments than part of a blur of music. The level of detail increases as well and the harshness (distortion) is lower. With the DACs I've tried, the ones with the most comprehensive power supplies always won out. I see a lot of high-end DACs with only minimalist power supplies and, honestly, I don't hold much hope for them at what the manufacturer is offering. It could be that the much I don't know about electronics is biasing me here though.

Why do...because they can. It makes them feel good, for awhile, then they may feel guilty, and pick at whatever it is that they purchased..They're convinced that spending big will bring about satisfaction. Their mindset is that the most expensive things are the best things. Some of these folks are anal. I'm serious, some of these folks are compulsive/obsessive about this stuff. For these folks, this stuff never produces the pleasure sought, or is a sufficient distraction from thoughts about their mortality. These are very unhappy people with insatiable appetites.

Why do...because they can. It makes them feel good, for awhile, then they may feel guilty, and pick at whatever it is that they purchased..They're convinced that spending big will bring about satisfaction. Their mindset is that the most expensive things are the best things. Some of these folks are anal. I'm serious, some of these folks are compulsive/obsessive about this stuff. For these folks, this stuff never produces the pleasure sought, or is a sufficient distraction from thoughts about their mortality. These are very unhappy people with insatiable appetites.

Quite the judgment but I've found an instance of this to be true. The person can no longer even enjoy the massive investment they have accumulated because of their health. It is a tragedy but true.

Try to go to a local headfi meet first and try out some more expensive dacs so you will know if a more expensive one would be worth it too you. No 2 people hear the same. Some will say a specific dac makes a huge difference and the next person will say it doesnt sound any different than there computer soundcard. Untill you hear it, you wont know.

I once took my heavy & large Sony das702ES DAC (Sony's first) to a head-fi meet, and compared it to another member's smaller and more modern DAC (I don't remember make or model). His was fed by an optical cable which looked for all the world like a clear, colorless plastic tube with nothing in it. I thought his DAC sounded better - he thought mine did. So there you go - maybe I should have offered to swap.

Thanks, Camper! I should add that I bought my DAC on eBay for ~70 bucks, and don't know what the MSRP was. It doesn't matter!! It lacks such modernisms as optical or balanced inputs and outputs, but it sounds so good that I don't care to consider upgrading. I think it's a mindset that dictates higher price = better sound, plus bragging rights. I'd rather enjoy the music...

Similar experience recently with the A GD 7. I was in the loaner program and got to listen to it for a couple weeks. I went back to my DAC and clarity was better from the Ref 7 but not at the price difference.

Old DACs were well designed and tweaks are being sold as breakthroughs today.